What’s new in IBM Sametime 8.5 software

IBM Sametime® software provides a core set of integrated, real-time communications services—voice, data and video—that make it easy for you to take action now and contribute to a nimble social business. Sametime software delivers these services, as well as those from hundreds of IBM Business Partners, through a unified user experience.

Whether you’re looking at Sametime capabilities for the very first time or you’re a longtime user, the latest release has something for you—as a user, developer or IT manager, or administrator.

• People using Sametime 8.5 software will find it simple to communicate and collaborate smarter with others.

  • A new online meeting experience, integrated into the IBM Sametime Connect client.
    Online meetings can be more effective. Instant access means no time lost to sharing passcodes.

  • Simplified and improved audio and video—ours or yours. New audio and video codecs provide higher-quality native voice and video Sametime services for a more compelling experience—inside and outside the company firewall—so people can richly collaborate in real time with teams across organizational boundaries. Sametime 8.5.2 web-browser based meetings include the same audio and video services as a rich client meeting provides.

  • Improved integration with Microsoft® Outlook and Microsoft Office software. More capabilities are available at the user's fingertips.

  • New social views. Easily find people you collaborate with the most.

  • Offline messaging. Send a message to someone who is offline now, but will view your message—and all others sent while the person was offline—upon returning back online.

  • New mobility support. New native Sametime mobile clients for Apple iOS and Google Android devices provides not only presence and IM but also a Sametime Unified Telephony dialer. Online meeting participation is provided by a native Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry meeting client or from a browser on Apple iPad and Android tablets.

  • Telephony options. IBM Sametime Unified Telephony Lite Client turns the Sametime Connect client into a softphone with ability to easily make and receive calls to phone numbers, video endpoints, or conferencing systems from wherever you are, without international or roaming fees. It provides an on-ramp to the full Sametime Unified Telephony experience, which also provides one unified number to reach you at any device, telephony presence, incoming call management and more.

• Developers and IBM Business Partners will find it easier to integrate with their environment and offerings.
  • SIP-based audio/video interoperability. Audio/video is now based on the industry-standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), which makes it easier to incorporate desktop video into third-party video conferencing systems.
  • Web 2.0 tools for Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP). New Web 2.0 APIs developers let developers embed Sametime capabilities into websites and applications so users switch context less often.
• Telephony managers can reduce corporate telephony and travel costs by increasing the synergy between IT and telephony infrastructures to provide high-quality, cost-effective voice and video services.
  • Telephony options.IBM Sametime Unified Telephony Lite Client helps reduce telephony costs and provides an entry point into unified communications by turning the Sametime Connect client into a standards-based SIP softphone with minimal requirements beyond your existing SIP infrastructure. It provides an onramp to the full Sametime Unified Telephony, which integrates telecommunications into your existing unified communications and collaboration environment and provides additional user functions.
  • Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal. The standards-based (STUN, TURN, ICE) NAT traversal in Sametime 8.5.2 enables audio and video usage to transcend an organization's firewalls, with the same enterprise-class security standards.
  • Enhanced web-browser based online meetings. Sametime 8.5.2 web-browser based meetings include the same audio and video services—yours or ours—as a rich client meeting provides.
  • Bandwidth manager. The Sametime 8.5.2 Bandwidth Manager makes rich media collaboration (with audio/video) feasible by helping maintain network quality of service for mission-critical applications.
  • Sametime IM client and Sametime Unified Telephony dialer for Google devices. Sametime 8.5.2 software Android support can help reduce internal roaming charges and overall telephony costs.
  • Support for dual adaptors. Sametime 8.5.2 software includes dual TCPSI adaptors to provide improved flexibility and simplified deployment for integrating audio conferencing and enterprise video.
• IT managers and administrators can better manage their infrastructure.
  • Zero-download browser clients. Deliver Sametime to people in resource-constrained environments without a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
  • Additional mobility support. Provide users with more options: new native clients for Android and Apple devices that include not only IM but also a dialer to initiate Sametime Unified Telephony 8.5.2 calls; online meetings from a browser on Apple iPad and Android tablets. Support—including online meetings—for the latest RIM® BlackBerry® devices; and an improved mobile client for Microsoft Windows® Mobile devices.
  • Web 2.0 tools. New Web 2.0 APIs developers let developers embed Sametime capabilities into websites and applications so users switch context less often.
  • Streamlined management. Deploy, configure, and administer software from a single console. Lotus Sametime 8.5.1 software provides the ability to activate IBM Sametime Unified Telephony features through policy to simplify Sametime client deployment.
  • Multiplatform client and server support. Deploy Sametime software on the operating system that makes the most sense for your environment and reduce total cost of ownership. Sametime 8.5.1 software adds support for presence, instant messaging, and online meetings on Linux on IBM System z®.
  • Support for dual adaptors. Sametime 8.5.2 software includes dual TCPSI adaptors to provide improved flexibility and simplified deployment for integrating audio conferencing and enterprise video.

See what’s new in IBM Sametime 8.5 software
IBM Sametime 8.5 software represents the next generation of real-time collaboration and unified communications software. Buy or upgrade today to take advantage of an even more seamless user experience, several more flexible licensing options and more. Here is what's new in each of the functions that Sametime software provides:

• Effective online meetings
  With online meeting enhancements you need never lose the first ten minutes of a meeting sharing meeting information again.
  • Meeting rooms are reservationless. You can create them instantly for a single meeting or keep and reuse them. Of course, you can schedule them through Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook calendars.
  • Persistent meeting rooms are available 24x7 and have their own file library. You can create rooms devoted to specific projects and store the appropriate materials there.
  • The meeting experience is fully integrated into the Sametime Connect client. You can create, find, and join meetings right from the client.
  • A zero-download browser-based meeting experience is also available for meeting participants to view meeting content. With Sametime 8.5.2 software people can also participate in browser-based meetings with the same audio and video options as in rich-client meetings.
  • You can invite others to meetings by dragging names from the Connect Client contact list and dropping them on the meeting room.
  • You can accept meeting invitations in a single click. It's just like joining a group chat request.
  • You can upload materials through simple drag and drop.
  • Sametime provides standards-based meeting recording and playback.
  • Enhanced meeting room controls include the ability for users to lock rooms and for administrators to delete rooms.
  • With Sametime 8.5.2 software you can access the same meeting room from your RIM BlackBerry smartphone.

• Simplified voice and video
  Simplified voice and video in Sametime 8.5 software takes the guess work out of multimedia collaboration.
  • A single audio and video interface delivers both built-in and partner media capabilities. With Sametime 8.5.2 software people can also participate in browser-based meetings with the same audio and video options as in rich client meetings.
  • The Sametime 8.5.2 Bandwidth Manager makes rich media collaboration with audio and video feasible for mission-critical applications while helping preserve network integrity.
  • The standards-based (STUN, TURN, ICE) NAT traversal in Sametime 8.5.2 enables audio and video usage across an organization's firewalls—with the same enterprise-class security standards.
  • Desktop video supports variable video window size, full screen mode, and resolutions up to high definition.
  • Audio/video is based on the industry-standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), improving interoperability with third-party audio/video conferencing systems. Sametime 8.5.2 includes dual TCPSI adaptors to provide improved flexibility and simplified deployment for integrating audio conferencing and enterprise video.
  • Sametime provides new administrative controls over the video experience (size, bitrate, and quality).
  • H.264 video and G.722.1 audio codecs provide higher-quality multimedia experience at lower bandwidths.

• More effective enterprise instant messaging options .
  Sametime 8.5 enhancements provide more effective enterprise IM options:
  • A new customizable, zero-download, browser-based chat client makes it easier to deploy Sametime to more people.
  • Two new views in the Connect Client - Frequent Contacts and Recent Contacts - puts the people you collaborate with most often at your fingertips.
  • An expanded Microsoft Outlook Toolbar makes it a more effective collaboration tool. Sametime 8.5.2 software includes integration with the Office 2010 Ribbon model.
  • Rich text chat between Sametime communities is possible over the Sametime gateway.
  • With Sametime 8.5.2 software you can search chat histories by person and view received files and links.

• More mobility options.
  Sametime 8.5 software provides enhancements people using mobile devices for their real-time collaboration:
  • A new Sametime meetings client support BlackBerry devices.
  • A new Google Android client provides instant messaging and telephony.
  • Sametime provides a Apple iPhone optimized browser-client for instant messaging.
  • A Windows mobile client offers a more refined mobile experience.
  • You get support for the BlackBerry Storm and the latest RIM BlackBerry devices.

• Enhanced platform for unified communications and collaboration enhanced
  The Sametime 8.5 software platform is easier than ever to extend and manage:

  New tools to presence and communication enable any Web 2.0 application to make it easy to extend collaboration throughout your organization and improve productivity.

  • Representational state transfer (REST)-based Web 2.0 APIs allow the next generation of developers to use standard AJAX tools to embed a full range of Sametime capabilities into web applications and portals.
  • A customizable, zero-download browser-based chat client makes it easier to integrate the Sametime chat experience into your websites.

  Simplified management with the new Sametime system console

  • Configure, setup, and test LDAP from a single location.
  • Facilitate deployment planning and installation of Sametime servers.
  • Central policy management for all Sametime services.

  Multiple infrastructure enhancements that make Sametime more cost effective to operate

  • The Sametime 8.5 architecture delivers componentized services that can be flexibly combined, distributed, and clustered, as needed.
  • Meetings use HTTP and HTTPS to connect users, improving firewall friendliness.
  • Meetings include failover and clustering eliminating the need for the Sametime Enterprise Meetings Server.
  • Sametime Media Manager provides policy-based controls over the video experience (size, connection speed, and quality).
  • Audio/video is now based on the industry-standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), improving interoperability with third-party audio/video conferencing systems.
  • Sametime Proxy Server provides Web 2.0 APIs to simplify integration into web applications.
  • Sametime System Console makes Sametime easier to manage and administer.
  • Wider platform support: Lotus Domino 8.5, Microsoft Windows 2008 R2, 64-bit Linux operating systems*, Novell SLES 11 Server. See Sametime system requirements for details of the platforms supported by each Sametime software release.

  Multiplatform client and server support.

  • Sametime software supports a variety of client and server environments.
  • Sametime 8.5.1 software is available for Linux on IBM System z for the following servers: community, meetings, proxy and system console.
  • Sametime capabilities that are not supported on System z—advanced community services, audio / video, and unified telephony—can be deployed on another platform and still provide a seamless user experience.

  New and easier ways to license.

  • Current customers of other IBM offerings that include basic Sametime services, including Lotus Notes, can take advantage of new upgrade options for more complete functionality.
  • New Extranet Processor Value Unit licensing option for Sametime Advanced to make community collaboration with customers and partners easier.

* Note: Sametime 8.5.1 software is available for Linux on IBM System z for the following servers: community, meetings, proxy and system console. (Other Sametime capabilities that are not supported on System z—advanced community services, audio / video, and unified telephony—can be deployed on another platform and still provide a seamless end user experience.)